Words are Powerful Weapons
by Brackenfrond
Summary: The wizarding world is devastated after the war with Voldemort. Somehow, the last three wizards who went against him are sent to a time before he's as big a threat, before they even existed. Hopefully, with the help of nine students and seven books, they can change what is to come. Slash, OCs and non canon pairings are included.
1. Chapter 1

Amalthea hissed as she landed awkwardly at the bottom of the incline, ankle stinging. She'd twisted it a few days ago, but despite Draco's healing spell they hadn't had time to stop, to rest. The skid obviously hadn't helped the process.

"You ok?" Harry was pulling her to her feet, and Amalthea hated seeing those eyes, once full of life, now so dull. So...dead looking. She nodded.

"We can stop here." Draco murmured, shooting Harry a look over Amalthea's head. The message was clear - her ankle wasn't going to heal if they didn't. "I can put up some wards. They won't -"

"No." She shook her head. "We've got to keep moving. You know they're after Harry."

"Amy -"

"Don't call me Amy." Amalthea warned. Amy had been her childhood nickname - she lost that kind of innocence after Harry had come back from the graveyard, leaning over the body of Cedric Diggory. She'd kept the nickname, until after the Battle of Hogwarts.

Then they were the only ones to make it out alive.

"Sorry." Harry sighed, before flinging her arm across his shoulders. Amalthea leaned against him heavily, glad for the support, the fact it took weight off her ankle. She was tired.

The whole reason they couldn't stop was because Voldemort had his Deatheaters after them. Of course he did - the last Malfoy, the last Black and the Boy-who-would-not-die. They would be a grand prize indeed.

"The coast is clear up ahead." Draco murmured. "There's an abandoned house up ahead. We can take cover in there. It's a bit of a way off - think you can manage?"

"Of course I can bloody manage." Amalthea huffed. She disproved herself when she attempted to stand without Harry's support and her leg buckled beneath her. The boys immediately ran over, but Amalthea shooed them off with a wave of her hand. "I'll be fine."

"You will not." Draco snapped. "We'll both support you - come on." Amalthea reluctantly flung her arms across both the boys, and managed to hobble with them. She thought they would get caught at the speed they were moving, but somehow they'd managed to reach the house with no disturbances. Draco opened the door with a simple alohomora charm and the three stumbled in, Amalthea collapsing into the first sturdy chair she came across as Draco and Harry worked on locking the door completely. Now they'd stopped, Amalthea could feel the pulsing in her ankle and, Merlin, it hurt like a bitch.

"What did I even do to it?"

"Twisted it." Draco muttered, kneeling on the floor to inspect the ankle that Amalthea was glaring at whilst Harry double checked the charms holding the door shut. "And since we haven't had time to stop, it's going to keep hurting." Draco muttered a healing spell under his breath, murmuring an apology when Amalthea hissed as the wand touched the red, swollen flesh. "I wish I knew some stronger healing spells."

"You and me both." Amalthea muttered. "In fact, I just wish the outcome had been different." She saw Harry flinch out the corner of her eye. "Not your fault."

"It is, though." He sighed, taking a seat on the floor, resting his head on Amalthea's lap. She automatically allowed her fingers to card through his hair, like she used to do when they were younger and weren't running for their lives. "I had an opportunity and...I ran. Like a coward."

"Potter, you're no coward." Draco assured him, awkwardly patting Harry's knee. "I know it, and Black knows it. Stop putting yourself down."

"What's done is done. We can't change it." Amalthea murmured. "We should sleep."

"You take the couch." Draco said. "Dunno if there'd be a better place upstairs, and besides, I don't want you risking it with your ankle. I'll find some blankets." He got to his feet, and walked off, hand trailing across Harry's shoulders as he left. The boy-who-lived got to his feet, supporting Amalthea as they walked to the couch...well, Harry walked. Amalthea hobbled.

"He likes you, you know." Amalthea managed to prop her leg up once she was seated on the couch. Harry rolled his eyes.

"He's hated me for seven years. He doesn't suddenly have a crush on me. No matter what you think."

"Sexual tension." Amalthea teased, before yawning. A pillow flew across the room, hitting her in the face. She pulled it down and scowled at Draco, who had blankets flung across his shoulders.

"Sleep, Black. Potter, there are some more pillows and such. Can you bring them in?" Harry sighed, but nodded and walked off to where Draco still stood. Amalthea allowed her eyes to close, the murmurs from Harry and Draco filling her ears.

She was sleepy. So, so sleepy.

Her last thought before sleep took her was wondering if it was possible to change it all.

XoooX

"You're actually kidding, right?" Barty leaned forward in his seat. "Little, innocent Remus Lupin, the first year who couldn't get through a sentence without stuttering, is a werewolf?"

The group that had gathered in the Room of Requirement consisted of Regulus Black, Barty Crouch jr, Severus Snape and Xandra Bluedale. The group normally gathered in the Room of Requirement, because then the gathering of two Slytherins, a Hufflepuff and a Gryffindor would not attract the gazes of unwanted people because, well, no one else would enter the room.

"I think it makes sense, to be honest." Xandra had her feet propped up on the coffee table, leaning heavily against a mildly irritated looking Regulus. "The scars, how he disappears once a month. He's already used the excuse of 'my grandmother died' three times."

"Then Sirius told me to go down the tunnel and nearly got me killed." Severus looked annoyed that no one seemed to take that point very seriously.

"You know my brother has some weird hatred towards you." Regulus shrugged a shoulder. "You should've figured it wouldn't be pleasant."

"I think killing him is a bit extreme, though." Barty pointed out.

"Was he drunk?" Xandra asked, curiously. "If he was drunk, then that explains why he did it."

"I almost died." Severus pointed out again. "You don't seem too fussed about that!"

"I still have trouble associating tiny, skinny Remus Lupin with a big, hungry, slavering werewolf." Regulus admitted. "He doesn't seem the type."

"No one seems the type. They are just people." Xandra pointed out.

"You haven't seen Greyback." The four in the room paused, before shuddering in almost unison.

"On that note, it's time for lunch." Barty got to his feet and Severus couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"That's our Barty - always thinking with his stomach."

"You wouldn't have me any other way." Barty retorted with a grin, flinging an arm across Severus' shoulders and pulling him into his side. Severus looked disgruntled and Xandra hid a laugh by biting her lip.

"We could have you less obnoxious." Regulus admitted, laughing and dodging out of the way of a swat from Barty.

"You're just jealous." Barty sniffed and Xandra shook her head as the group finally entered the Great Hall and splitting up as usual. Regulus and Severus began a discussion about potions as they headed over to the Slytherin table and Barty was called over to the Hufflepuff table by a girl with her bright red hair tied in bunches. Xandra noticed that Marilyn, who barely ever left the Ravenclaw table, was sat with the Gryffindors, next to a flustered looking Peter. Xandra took the free seat next to a sickly looking Remus and pulled out a chocolate bar, offering it to him.

"The solution to all of life's problems." She said in a way of explanation and Remus gave an awkward smile.

"Thanks." Remus murmured, unwrapping the bar and snapping off a square. Sirius was giving Xandra a deadly sort of look, which she'd gotten used to after she started hanging around with his brother. So Xandra ignored him.

"What are you sitting here for, Marilyn? Not like I'm unhappy to see you here." Xandra added hastily. Marilyn laughed, tossing her silvery-white hair over her shoulder. Peter looked entranced.

"You know that Lockhart kid?" She said. Xandra grimaced.

"Who doesn't?"

"He's trying to flirt with me." Marilyn explained. "So I'm avoiding him."

"Because white hair isn't easy to notice?" James teased and Marilyn stuck her tongue out at him.

That was when things got weird.

Though Hogwarts was a school for witches and wizards, bright flashes of light did not usually appear during lunch. Along with that, random people didn't, either.

There were three in total, and Xandra couldn't help but notice that some of their features were similar, but not in a 'I've seen you on the street' sort of way.

The tallest was a blond boy, his hair in a messy, dirty halo around his head. His eyes were silver, his skin pale amongst the dirt, grime and was that blood? coating it. He had his wand drawn.

The other boy had messy black hair, even more messy than the blond's, and his skin was more tanned amongst the grime. His eyes were shocking, a vibrant emerald green, the glasses in front of them were smashed in one lense.

The final was a girl, situated in between them, leaning heavily on the smaller boy. Her hair was black, too, tangled up in twigs. Her eyes were green, too, and Xandra would expect them to be related if not for the fact that their facial features were in no way similar. Where the boy was all round and smooth, the girl's face was more angular, regal in a way that reminded Xandra of Bellatrix on sight. She only hoped that their personalities weren't similar. Like, at all.

"What the...but…" The girl's voice was raspy, full of disbelief. Her eyes were locked on the Slytherin table, eyes wide.

"Guard up." The blond got out. The black haired boy's eyes were fixed on the Gryffindor table. "This is a trap - it's so obviously a trap."

"Our guards are up." The black haired boy got out, turning his eyes to the head table. His eyes locked on McGonagall. "Professor."

"Potter -" The blond looked ready to kill someone if need be, but didn't finish his reprimand as the girl let out a sharp hiss of pain and that was when Xandra noticed her foot wasn't touching the ground. The black haired boy seemed to make a decision, then.

"We need...help." He managed to get out. "Amalthea's ankle's twisted and Draco's healing spells aren't very good." He ignored the blond - Draco, Xandra guessed - as he made a noise of protest. "Please."

"I'm fine!" The girl, Amalthea, snapped. She disproved herself spectacularly by letting out a yelp when Madame Pomfrey, who had gone over to help, touched her ankle with her wand. "Ok, maybe I'm not."

"You need to rest it." The mediwitch said, tutting in disapproval. "What on earth have you been doing?"

"Well...um...that's a long story." The black haired boy said, looking uncomfortable.

"One that many people here shouldn't know." Draco snapped. "We need to -"

"What's the point, Dray?" Amalthea sighed, weary. "Professor?" Her eyes were fixed solely on McGonagall, and Xandra only just noticed that Dumbledore wasn't at the head table. "We...we need to talk with you? In private - I mean, if that's ok?" The professor's eyes narrowed, before she nodded, as though deeming her worthy.

"Of course you may, Miss…"

"Black." She said. "My name is Amalthea Black. And I'm the last."

XoooX

"What the Hell does she mean she's the last!?" Regulus was agitated and, once again, Xandra tried to console him.

"Reg -"

"I'm right here!" He said, waving his arms a bit. He was taking this much worse than his brother, who was sitting in the corner of the Room of Requirement, looking moody. The Marauders and Xandra's group had proposed a truce, and had all secreted themselves away in the come and go room. Marilyn had come along too, mostly at Peter's insistence. The Ravenclaw was sat by Severus, looking slightly awkward.

"I don't think they're from here." She spoke up for the first time. "I mean, they just...appeared. Maybe...they're from a different time?"

"How can they be?" Barty frowned. "I mean, I know that we have time turners, but they only go back a couple of hours. And I doubt these two are going to die in a matter of hours."

"He has a point." Remus said from his spot next to Sirius. "As annoying as they are, they don't die easily."

"Hey!" Regulus whirled on Remus. Sirius just grumbled something under his breath. It was probably insulting.

"But what if they're from really far in the future!" Xandra wasn't surprised that it was Peter who spoke up. His crush on Marilyn was so obvious, it wasn't even funny. "Like, when time turners that can bring them years back in time are invented!"

"If they are from the future, then that is a possibility." James mused.

"I think you're all getting in over your heads." Severus sighed. "I doubt that your theory of time travel is correct."

"Do you have a better idea?" Marilyn snapped and Xandra braced herself for the oncoming explosion. Severus and Marilyn normally argued over theories and such, especially when they were competing in Potions and Charms.

Fortunately, they were stopped from arguing when a silver patronus appeared in the room.

"All of you please report to my office." McGonagall's voice came from the patronus, before it disappeared. The room was silent.

"Well, it can't be anything bad." Barty decided. "I mean, Marilyn's here."

"You haven't heard about the stormcloud incident." Sirius deadpanned, the first thing he'd said since they'd entered the room. Marilyn had turned a shade of red at that. "She's terrible."

"It was amazing." Peter sounded slightly dreamy.

"But I never got caught." Marilyn pointed out. "I never get caught. So why is she calling me up, too?"

"We should probably go see." Remus said. "Considering the fact that McGonagall's expecting us."

The nine headed down to McGonagall's office. When they entered, they were greeted both by the deputy head and the newcomers. Amalthea had been confined to a seat. The black haired boy - Xandra needed a name still - was sitting at her feet and Draco was pacing. McGonagall was sitting in her usual seat.

"It's a bit crowded in here, isn't it?" The smaller boy said in a way of greeting. "Shall we move location? I believe the Room of Requirement would be a better location."

"We've literally just been there." James muttered in annoyance. But, nevertheless, they headed up there, Amalthea protesting when Draco picked her up and carried her there when she lagged behind.

"Put me down you prat!" She smacked him on the shoulder when the room appeared, coy with sofas and armchairs and a fire. Amalthea hobbled over to a sofa when Draco let her down, the two boys who had come with her bracketing her almost immediately.

Remus, Sirius and James took to a sofa, with Peter taking up residence on one with Marilyn. Somehow, Xandra, Reg, Severus and Barty managed to squeeze onto one, probably because Barty had no reservations about splaying himself out across the other three. McGonagall raised an eyebrow at the four, but took a seat in an armchair without any complaints.

"So, I suppose we need to explain things - but names first." Amalthea smiled awkwardly. "I'm Amalthea Black, the blond prat is Draco Malfoy and this idiot here is Harry Potter."

"Mate, I pity you for being related to Lucy." Sirius said and Draco only rolled his eyes. Harry looked mildly offended by Amalthea's comment. "But I've never heard of an Amalthea, before. Or a Draco."

"And there's no Harry in my family." James added.

"That's where things get complicated." Harry rubbed the back of his neck. "See, we're sort of...from the future."

"I KNEW IT!" Marilyn jumped to her feet in triumph, before promptly turning bright red as everyone stared at her. "I just...I mean...I was right?" Peter pulled her back into her seat.

"What's the future like?" Barty asked, eyes wide. "Am I Minister?"

"If anyone in the future is sane, you will not be Minister." Severus deadpanned and Barty elbowed him lightly in reprimand. Amalthea's lips twitched.

"No...thing is, the future's...messed up. Like, a lot messed up." She explained.

"We're here for a reason." Draco added. "We think that we may be able to change that."

"Is that what the books are for?" Remus asked and that was when Xandra finally noticed the seven, hard back books at Harry's feet.

"Yeah. They contain seven years of my memories." Harry said. "Seven years of choices and events that lead to our future as we know it."

"These three believe that, with these books, you can change the future." McGonagall explained. "I may come in for certain parts, but I have other duties to attend to. You have been excused from school whilst you read, although Miss Zayne was not mentioned in the group." She turned to look at the three travellers, who shrugged.

"She can stay if she wants to." Harry said and Marilyn nodded eagerly.

"As you wish. I will explain to the faculty that you are excused from lessons." And with that, McGonagall left in a swish of emerald green robes. There was an awkward silence.

"Well…" Severus started. "Are we going to read?"

XoOoX

A reading the books fic, including three OCs. A bit of a rewrite from the previous one I had up, mostly because I was unhappy with it. But anyways.

Read, review and all that jazz! ~ Jazz xx


	2. PS - The Boy Who Lived

**THE BOY WHO LIVED**

As if on a cue, Amalthea and Draco snorted. Harry groaned and the others in the room raised an eyebrow or tilted their heads in confusion.

"The-Boy-Who-Would-Not-Die." Amalthea said.

"The-Boy-Who-Has-Too-Many-Hyphens-In-His-Name." Draco added.

"The-Boy-Who -"

"Shut up." Harry muttered.

**Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. **

"You're very welcome." Barty sniffed. Severus rolled his eyes, elbowing the boy in the side.

"Act your age, not your shoe size."

"I'll have you know that my shoe size is an eight - perfectly respectable." Barty retorted.

"You make an excellent point - you act more like a five year old." Harry couldn't help but stare, stunned at the younger version of his potions master, teasing his friend who stuck his tongue out in retaliation. No one noticed, well, except from Regulus and Remus who exchanged confused looks.

**They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.**

"Boring!" Peter exclaimed, Marilyn managing to not laugh at his look of indignation. "How can these...these people be so boring?"

"Why are we reading about them, anyway?" James asked.

"They're my aunt and uncle." Harry explained.

"You poor, poor soul." Xandra said. "My heart goes out to you."

"Uh…"

"Xandra's being over dramatic." Barty said. "Ignore her."

**Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors. **

"Attractive." Amalthea deadpanned and Draco rolled his eyes, an almost fond look crossing his features as Harry snorted in amusement.

"I think Mrs Dursley's neck is compensating for her husband's lack of one." Reg decided, shoving Barty's feet off his lap. They were soon back on there, though, so the youngest Black sighed and left the Hufflepuff to it.

**The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.**

"I doubt that." Draco snorted. "Then again, he must be better than Potter."

"Potter saved your life." Harry retorted, kicking Draco's ankle in retaliation. Draco stuck his tongue out. Sometimes, it scared Amalthea that these two, who used to despise each other, were now so close.

**The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. **

"We'll find it out." Peter got flicked absently in the temple by Marilyn. He let out a half hearted 'ouch', causing the Ravenclaw to roll her eyes.

"Obviously." She replied. "No need to state it, Peter."

**They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be. **

"That is not a word." Marilyn muttered and Sirius managed to hide his amusement with his hand.

"I know brothers suck - take Sirius as an example." Regulus easily ignored his brother's annoyed protest. "But I still acknowledge his existence, because he has moments where he isn't a complete prat."

"Feeling the love here." Sirius muttered.

**The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.**

"Like what?" Remus, Sirius and Peter chorused, sounding rather threatening.

"Annoying."

"A prat."

"One who uses violence as a ways to punish his so called friends." Amalthea ducked the swat from Harry, laughing. "See!"

"Shut up - you're both terrible."

**When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work, and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.**

"The most boring tie?" Barty frowned. "That's so...so…"

"Boring?" Xandra suggested. Severus snorted.

**None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window.**

**At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls. "Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house. **

"I want to strangle him - can I -"

"No." Draco and Harry said in unison and Amalthea looked as though her dreams had been crushed.

**He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive.**

**It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar - a cat reading a map. For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen - then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. **

"Oh." Reg blinked. "Was that?"

"I think it was." Barty hummed.

"But why are they there?" Xandra asked.

"Dunno. Will be for something important." Severus shrugged. Everyone was staring at the four who were on such a similar wavelength, it was actually quite freaky. They were almost as in sync as the Marauders, which Marilyn thought was impossible. Maybe the quartets weren't as different as they liked to believe.

**What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive - no, looking at the sign; cats couldn't read maps or signs. **

"Unless it's who we think it is."

"Oh!" Remus seemed to have caught on now, leaning over to the group. "You think it's…" He gestured to the chair which McGonagall had once occupied. Reg grinned.

"Yup." Sirius shot his brother a warning look. Reg stuck his tongue out in retaliation.

**Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.**

"How fascinating, do tell us more." Severus drawled out.

**But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks. Mr. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes - the getups you saw on young people! **

"It's tragic, isn't it Padfoot?" James said. His brother in all but blood nodded solemnly.

"Tragic, really. It's terrible."

**He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdos standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! The nerve of him! **

"Yes, how dare he!" Barty sounded scandalised. Severus flicked him in between the eyes in reprimand. "Hey!"

"You were being annoying."

"When is Barty not annoying?" Xandra hummed.

"That is a million galleon question." Severus sighed, ignoring Barty's whining as he draped himself more fully across the Slytherin, trying to gain his attention in hopefully a more positive way.

**But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt - these people were obviously collecting for something... yes, that would be it. The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills.**

"What a fascinating mental process your uncle has, Harry." Draco said in false interest. "Do tell us if this is all that goes on in his mind."

"It's normally drills, hating me, Dudley, hating magic, Aunt Petunia, hating me and so on and so forth." Harry replied. Remus growled, James' eyes narrowed, Sirius glared at the book and Peter's hands curled into fists. Harry was surprised at Peter's annoyance, but then again, he was James' friend at this point in time. Maybe, this time around, they could stop him from joining Voldemort.

**Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. He didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open- mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead. Most of them had never seen an owl even at nighttime. **

"Why not?" Sirius tilted his head.

"Did you pay no attention in Muggle Studies?" Barty sighed. "Muggles don't use owls to deliver things."

"Oh." Sirius blinked. "Then what -"

"Oh, I'll explain it later." Marilyn huffed.

"You're a Muggleborn?" Amalthea asked. "I thought, with the hair…"

"You can get prematurely white hair, y'know." Marilyn replied. "It's just rare. I'm one of the lucky few to have it."

**Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more. He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk **

"What?" Harry'seyes had gone wide in fake shock. "He's moving? He's actually moving?"

"That's what the book says." Amalthea clarified. "So I assume it's true."

"Merlin…" Draco rolled his eyes at her friend's behaviour.

**across the road to buy himself a bun from the bakery.**

**He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. This bunch were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

"Should've used Muffliato." Barty chimed. "You know, because speaking in public means someone's going to eavesdrop."

"You would know, eavesdropping into every conversation that ever exists in your vicinity." Reg commented dryly. Barty batted his eyelashes.

"Thank you for the compliment!" Xandra and Severus hit him around the back of his head in unison.

**"The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard yes, their son, Harry"**

**Mr. Dursley stopped dead. Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it.**

**He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone, and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his mustache, thinking... no, he was being stupid. Potter wasn't such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew was called Harry. He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold. **

"Woah, hold the phone!" Amalthea held up a hand. "He didn't know your name?" Harry shrugged.

"S'not a big deal."

"Harry James Potter, it is a fucking huge deal!" Amalthea looked ready to explode and Draco couldn't help but think about how messy that would be. "Hell, Andy didn't even meet me before seventh year and she still knew my name! He knew it, didn't he?"

"Uh…" Amalthea hid her head in a pillow. Meanwhile, James had literally just realised something.

"Wait...you're my son."

"Brilliant deduction, James." Xandra commented dryly. "I thought it was obvious. Like how Amalthea is related to Reg and Sirius and Draco is obviously Lucius' son.".

**There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her - if he'd had a sister like that... but all the same, those people in cloaks...**

**He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.**

**"Sorry," **

"He actually knows the word?" Harrylooked shocked and the group snickered, only to stop at the genuine look of shock.

"Oh my God…you're not joking?" Amalthea blinked.

"He's never said it to me. Like, ever."

**he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passersby stare, "Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!"**

"No, we don't know who."James said blandly, earning a snort of amusement from Harry.

"Secrecy right out the window there." Reg shook his head, tutting. "I'm ashamed, unknown wizard. So very ashamed."

"As if you wouldn't do the same thing." Xandra teased.

"Lies, Xandra." Reg's lips twitched. "I came out to have a good time and I'm feeling so att - hey!" Barty had kicked him in the stomach before he could finish his sentence. He pulled an innocent face when the youngest Black scowled at him.

**And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off.**

**Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.**

"Ok, that doesn't make sense." Draco blinked.

"Dray, honey, this man doesn't make sense." Amalthea replied.

"My name is Draco. Dray-co."

**As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw - and it didn't improve his mood - was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.**

Xandra hummed knowingly, exchanging a smirk with Severus. Marilyn frowned at the two, before his eyes lit up and he made a sound of comprehension.

"Got it, Marilyn?"

"How did I not notice before?!." She sounded annoyed at herself and Remus couldn't help but laugh, especially as Peter tugged on her robe sleeve, wondering what she had noticed.

**"Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly. The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look. Was this normal cat behavior? Mr. Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.**

**Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learned a new word ("Won't!"). **

"What a brilliant new word." Remus deadpanned, rolling his eyes. "These people shouldn't be allowed to raise children." Harry deliberately turned his attention away from the rest of the room as much as possible at that comment.

**Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room in time to catch the last report on the evening news:**

**"And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern." The newscaster allowed himself a grin. "Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?"**

**"Well, Ted," **

Amalthea blinked. "Wonder if that's Uncle Ted."

**said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early - it's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight."**

"Honest to God, we're really not good at being secretive, are we?" Severus commented dryly, paying only mild attention to the incredulous looks he was receiving from the three time travellers. It seemed rather obvious that his future self wasn't like himself at all. He wasn't looking forward to when he was mentioned in the books at all.

**Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters...**

**Mrs. Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. "Er - Petunia, dear - you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?"**

**As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.**

**"No," she said sharply. "Why?"**

**"Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls... shooting stars... and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today..."**

**"So?" snapped Mrs. Dursley.**

**"Well, I just thought... maybe... it was something to do with... you know... her crowd."**

"Her crowd?" Severus shuffled away from a slightly terrifying looking Xandra. Regulus, who was so used to Xandra's outbreaks of anger, merely sighed. "What, exactly, is that supposed to mean?"

"Witches and wizards?" Harry wasn't sure why he answered the Gryffindor, probably because she looked like icy rage. Xandra attempted to get to her feet, but was stopped by Barty's legs flung across her lap.

"Don't. Azkaban is terrible - will totally mess up your hair." Xandra sighed at Barty's valid point, before trying to calm herself down. They didn't notice how Amalthea, Draco and Harry winced.

**Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter." He decided he didn't dare. Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son - he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?"**

**"I suppose so," said Mrs. Dursley stiffly.**

**"What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?"**

**"Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me."**

"Better than Draco." Amalthea smiled dazzlingly at Draco. He snorted.

"Says Amalthea."

"Let's just agree that, generally, pureblood names suck." Harry rolled his eyes.

"I like my name." Sirius muttered and Remus, James and Peter rolled their eyes.

**"Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree."**

**He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something.**

"And the award for the most patient animal ever goes to that cat. You know, if it really is a cat." Obviously, from his comment, Marilyn had not told Peter the actual identity of the cat and was currently looking very smug about her knowledge of who it actually was.

**Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did... if it got out that they were related to a pair of - well, he didn't think he could bear it.**

**The Dursleys got into bed. Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr. Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs. Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind... He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on - he yawned and turned over - it couldn't affect them...**

"And he's jinxed it." Remus and Marilyn chorused.

"When you say it won't affect you, it naturally will." Xandra sighed, Harry nodding in grudging agreement.

**How very wrong he was.**

**Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.**

Severus whistled, impressed. "How can anyone stay still for that long?"

"Those weird human statue people in Muggle London do." Barty pointed out. "Ah, Muggle London is an amazing place."

"It's weird." Regulus corrected. "Really, really weird."

"You've been to Muggle London?" Sirius asked. Regulus blinked, slightly shocked that Sirius was actually speaking to him, before replying.

"Since Xandra lives there, yeah. Been there with her sister and her girlfriend."

"He was so confused. It was adorable." Xandra said, laughing when Regulus scowled at her playfully.

**A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.**

**Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.**

Harry's lips pursed, eyes flashing in annoyance. Draco placed a hand on his knee and squeezed. Amalthea rested her head on his shoulder and the tenseness left Harry's posture.

But Severus had seen it. And he wondered.

**Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome. He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known."**

"Should have known what?" Peter whined, staring petulantly at Marilyn, who tried to look stoic, but her lips kept twitching in amusement.

**He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop. He clicked it again - the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer,**

"It's actually a deluminator." Harry murmured, remembering Ron, who had gotten the gadget after Dumbledore's death. "His own invention."

**until the only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it.**

**"Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."**

"Oh!" Peter's eyes brightened in realisation and those of the older generation shook their heads fondly. Yes, Peter could be a bit slow, but he was a sweetheart, really.

**He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled.**

"Wow, Minnie looks ruffled." James blinked. "That's unusual."

**"How did you know it was me?" she asked.**

**"My dear Professor, I 've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."**

**"You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall.**

**"All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."**

"Ok, so something big's happened." Regulus sighed. "But who the hell is You-Know-Who? We don't know who."

"You-Know-Who is a powerful dark wizard, known as Lord Voldemort." Harry explained over the cacophony of noise. It quitened immediately.

"...Oh." Severus bit his lower lip.

"Well, it's a good thing he's dead!" Marilyn spoke up, voice unusually harsh. She was trembling slightly. "He's killed so many Muggles and Muggleborns...I'm glad he's dead! No wonder people are celebrating!"

**Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.**

**"Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently. "You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no - even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news." She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls... shooting stars... Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent - I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."**

"I don't know how he got into Ravenclaw." Marilyn sighed. "Although, you have to be nifty with charms to pull that off, I guess."

**"You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."**

"Eleven years?" Regulus' eyes were wide.

"That's how long Voldemort was around for." Draco said. "He doesn't become a terrible threat until the summer of this year, I believe. He's killed some Muggles, I think, but nothing so drastic that it warrants the entire magical population to worry." Marilyn muttered something about inequality.

**"I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumors."**

**She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?"**

**"It certainly seems so," **

Harry snarled something under his breath, glaring at nothing. Marilyn noticed it, too, and shared a worried and confused look with Severus.

**said Dumbledore. "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"**

**"A what?"**

**"A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of"**

**"No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops. "As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone -"**

**"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this 'You- Know-Who' nonsense - for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort." Professor McGonagall flinched, **

"Why do people flinch?" Surprisingly, it was Peter who asked this, lips pursed in confusion and thought. "I mean, it is just a name."

"There was a taboo put on it." Harry said, managing to calm himself down.

"Still, if he is gone, then they should say it." Peter retorted. "It's just a name - it's nothing to be afraid of."

**but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name.**

**"I know you haven't," said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know- oh, all right, Voldemort, was frightened of."**

**"You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."**

"Only 'cause he's too noble to use them." Marilyn stated.

**"Only because you're too - well - noble to use them."**

The Ravenclaw blinked in shock and Barty crowed in laughter.

**"It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."**

**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing next to the rumors that are flying around. You know what everyone's saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?"**

**It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer.**

**"What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are - are - that they're - dead. "**

"...What?" James' voice was unusually small. "I...and Lily…" He wasn't overjoyed he married Lily, he was devastated because she was dead and he was too, so he couldn't save her. "Oh, Merlin."

"James…" Sirius pulled his friend into a hug and Remus buried his face in his hands. Peter was crying and Marilyn, almost hesitantly, wrapped an arm around his shoulder. Harry could only watch sadly as the four brother's cried. The group opposite them could only stare, not sure what to do, how to react. They thought that the Marauder's were unable to die one at a time, they would end up growing old and dying as crotchety old men who fought for the best seats in a nursing home. Not...not like this.

It took a while for everyone to calm down enough to continue with the story.

**Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped.**

**"Lily and James... I can't believe it... I didn't want to believe it... Oh, Albus..."**

**Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know... I know..." he said heavily.**

**Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, Harry. But - he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke - and that's why he's gone."**

"You survived the killing curse." Regulus gaped at Harry, who flushed.

"You're the Boy Who Lived!" Marilyn realised. Harry's face grew even redder.

**Dumbledore nodded glumly.**

**"It's - it's true?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done... all the people he's killed... he couldn't kill a little boy? It's just astounding... of all the things to stop him... but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"**

**"We can only guess," said Dumbledore. "We may never know."**

**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"**

**"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you're here, of all places?"**

**"I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now."**

"Liar. I had Remus. And everyone on the Black family tree." Harry muttered. "Anywhere would've been better than there."

**"You don't mean - you can't mean the people who live here?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "Dumbledore - you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son - I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here! There are other, much better suited people - Alexandra! Remus! Even I, myself, would take him in! Anywhere but here, Albus!"**

**"It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "You know how the death of her husband affected Alexandra, and she has a daughter to look after. **

The comment about her having a daughter flew right over Xandra's head, because she knew that if she had to marry anyone, it would be Reg. They'd been best friends since first year, and if she had to pick anyone, it would be him, because they'd been through everything together. And the mention of the fact her future husband would be dead...that Regulus would die...it shook her and, apparently, everyone else. Knowing that James and Lily would die was bad enough, but another…

"I die?" Regulus managed to get out, before his eyes locked on Amalthea, who looked as though she were trying very hard not to cry. "You're my daughter...aren't you?" She managed to let out watery smile.

"Hi, dad."

**Remus will not be accepted as a guardian by the Ministry. If you took him in, he would be ridiculed by his school mates. His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter."**

"Wait, I think I misheard." Barty stared. "Did that say 'letter'?"

"Uh...yes?" Harry was confused - he didn't remember anything about a letter. The rest of the room, though, were fuming because a letter? Really?

**"A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? These people will never understand him! He'll be famous - a legend - I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in the future - there will be books written about Harry - every child in our world will know his name!"**

"Unfortunately." Harry sighed. "It was the most annoying thing ever."

**"Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?"**

**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, "Yes - yes, you're right, of course. **

"Thanks for trying." Harry whispered.

**But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it.**

**"Hagrid's bringing him."**

**"You think it - wise - to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"**

**I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.**

"Just...not with secrets." Barty smiled fondly. "He's terrible at keeping secrets."

**"I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to - what was that?"**

**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky - and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.**

"Whoa." Sirius looked star struck. The other Marauders sighed.

**If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild - long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.**

**"Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?"**

**"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sit," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. **

"THE BIKE IS MINE!" Sirius punched the air in triumph, before frowning. "But...why am I not taking you?"

"It's complicated." Harry and Amy chorused. Draco just sighed.

**I've got him, sir."**

**"No problems, were there?"**

**"No, sir - house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."**

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.**

Harry sighed at the looks and moved his fringe out of the way, showing the scar.

"It's not overly impressive." Xandra admitted.

"I was expecting it to look more like actual lightning." Regulus added.

"This is so anti climatic." Barty sighed. Harry looked a lot better.

**"Is that where -?" whispered Professor McGonagall.**

**"Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever."**

**"Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"**

**"Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground. **

"How - wait, I don't want to know." Remus pulled a face.

**Well - give him here, Hagrid - we'd better get this over with."**

**Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys' house.**

**"Could I - could I say good-bye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.**

**"Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "you'll wake the Muggles!"**

**"S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it - Lily an' James dead - an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles -"**

**"Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two. **

"Did they just leave you on a doorstep?" Marilyn's voice was deadly. Harry decided to not answer that, because damn, that Ravenclaw was scary.

**For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.**

**"Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."**

"Yeah, leave an orphan on the doorstep!" Severus growled. "How very responsible of you!" Severus muttered under his breath and Barty began to pat his hair soothingly, much to the general amusement of the room.

**"Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I'll be takin' Sirius his bike back. G'night, Professor McGonagall - Professor Dumbledore, sir."**

**Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.**

**"I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.**

**Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four.**

**"Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.**

"I'm going to need all the luck I can get." Harry muttered.

**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley... He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter - the boy who lived!"**

"And there you have it - how I came to be the most famous wizard ever." Harry sighed.

"Yes, Har, we know you hate your fame." Amalthea patted his head and Draco smiled in amusement.

"Anyway, onto chapter two." The blond announced.


	3. PS - The Vanishing Glass

**THE VANISHING GLASS**

"Accidental magic." Marilyn said decisively, leaving back in her seat.

"Yes, because that wasn't obvious." Severus rolled his eyes and Barty snorted in amusement.

**Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. **

Xandra's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Ok, Sharada's hair changes more often than that house."

"Who's Sharada?" Remus tilted his head.

"My sister's girlfriend. Her wardrobe is dangerous." Xandra said. Barty looked excited at the mention of the wardrobe, whereas Severus shuddered.

"Her scarf tried to strangle me." The Slytherin remembered, earning him a few stares.

**The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursleys' front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr. Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls. Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed. Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-colored bonnets **

"Best. Description. Ever." Peter stated over the laughter from his three closest friends, the four opposite snickering, Amalthea, Draco and Harry snorting and Marilyn hiding her face in her hands, shoulders shaking in laughter.

**- but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother. The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too.**

"He got out!" James crossed his fingers and looked up at the ceiling. "Please, if anyone has mercy, he's living with Padfoot. I'll even accept Snivellus!"

"Hey!"

"Play nice, James." Marilyn sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

**Yet Harry Potter was still there, **

"No dice." James sighed.

"Don't expect me to move out any time soon." Harry shrugged. "I live with them until I'm seventeen, so."

"Great." Barty sighed. "We hear more about your boring relatives."

"Joy." Regulus dead panned.

**asleep at the moment, but not for long. His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day.**

**"Up! Get up! Now!"**

Severus and Harry winced.

"Yeah, her voice is shrill." Severus recalled. "Not the most pleasant thing to wake up to, I'm sure."

"How do you know that?" Peter looked confused.

"I live where Lily lives. I've met her sister."

"Oh."

**Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.**

**"Up!" she screeched. Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. **

"Downstairs bedroom?" Amalthea guessed and Harry nodded, albeit hesitantly.

"Yeah. That's right."

**He rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before.**

"Good memory." Sirius commented. "Like, ridiculously good. I can't remember what I had for breakfast."

"You stole my brioche because you were late. Again." Remus reminded him. Sirius had the decency to look sheepish.

"You can have my dessert for a week?"

"You'll just get more anyway."

"...Point."

**His aunt was back outside the door.**

**"Are you up yet?" she demanded.**

**"Nearly," said Harry.**

**"Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday."**

"They made you cook?" Amalthea asked, eyes narrowed.

"No...they made me make sure things didn't burn?" Harry's voice wavered at the end.

"Harry. You can make water burn." Draco dead panned.

"Hey! I do not!" Harry huffed and, immediately, the tension was diffused. As planned.

**Harry groaned.**

"He groaned." Marilyn rolled her eyes. "That is not saying something. Honestly, woman!"

**"What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door.**

**"Nothing, nothing..."**

**Dudley's birthday - how could he have forgotten?**

"Hey, sometimes I forget my sister's birthday." Xandra said, as though it wasn't a big deal. "And I'm sure that Reg would forget Sirius' birthday if they didn't share it."

"She makes an excellent point." Regulus admitted. Sirius looked offended.

"I thought you cared!"

"Well, you thought wrong." The Slytherin's eyes were glittering with humour as his brother wailed against Remus' shoulder, the werewolf sighing and petting his hair in mock consolidation.

**Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider off one of them, put them on. **

Marilyn's nose wrinkled. "Ew. Spiders."

"You're scared of spiders?" Peter looked shocked that Marilyn could actually be scared of something. Marilyn rolled her eyes.

"I don't like them. The way they move is so creepy."

"I get that." Amalthea shuddered. "I get that so much."

**Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept.**

"What?!" Amalthea and Draco's heads snapped to stare at Harry, who was trying his best to hide in the sofa. The others were muttering in annoyance under their breath, whereas Sirius and Regulus exchanged looks. Their mother's favourite punishment was locking them in the cellar with no light. The time spent in there was varied, depending on the son and what they were being punished for, but they understood.

"Guys, if what we're reading changes, and I assume it does, then there is nothing we can do about it." Sirius sighed. James opened his mouth to protest.

"Now, at least." Regulus added before James could speak. "After we've read all of these books, then maybe." James huffed, but accepted defeat. Xandra patted Regulus' hand, looking at him in concern. The youngest Black merely sighed, resting his head on her shoulder.

**When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike. **

"You are kidding me?" Marilyn stared. "What the actual...why? Why is he getting all that?"

"What is all that?" Sirius asked.

"Expensive." Xandra answered. "Very expensive."

**Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise - unless of course it involved punching somebody. Dudley's favorite punching bag was Harry, but he couldn't often catch him. Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast.**

"I'd like to use Dudley for a punching bag." Barty growled. He'd moved from his sprawled out position, now sat on the couch arm next to Severus. The Slytherin sighed, but patted Barty's knee.

"He's not alive right now." Marilyn commented. Barty rolled his eyes.

"I know that, Zayne."

**Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age. **

"Also genes." Sirius commented. "James was a scrawny git back in first year." He ducked the swat James aimed at his head. Remus snorted.

"Lily is small for her age, too." Peter added. "It annoys her so much - people mistake her for a fourth year."

"Seeing her get red in anger is so entertaining." Xandra sighed.

**He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's, and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was.**

"Couldn't they at least make them smaller?" Severus' nose wrinkled. "How is it even possible for someone to be as big as he is described?"

"Dunno." Harry shrugged. "But Dudley achieved it."

**Harry had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair, and bright green eyes. **

"Mostly James, there." Marilyn stated. "But Lily's eyes."

"So I've heard." Harry said, mildly amused. He assumed he'd be hearing that a lot throughout the book - he should keep a tally.

**He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose. The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning. **

"But not a very interesting one." Regulus commented.

"You liked it?" Amalthea stared. Harry rolled his eyes.

"I didn't know what it meant back then, Amy." Amalthea didn't bother on correcting Harry. The nickname...it felt right, she guessed.

**He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it.**

**"In the car crash when your parents died," she had said. "And don't ask questions."**

"Excuse me?!" Remus' eyes were glowing slightly gold, and Sirius had to place a hand on his shoulder to keep him grounded. "But I believe that she just said Lily and James died in a _car crash._"

"Uh...that's what I believed, yeah." Harry rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "But it's fine - I found out the truth."

"Harry, the fact you eventually found out doesn't matter." Barty sighed. "It's the fact that she lied to you about your family. You never got a chance to know them, so you should at least know the truth."

"Maybe not the magic part." Peter admitted. "I think you wouldn't believe that much, but not saying it was a car crash and belittling James and Lils. That's not fair."

"And not asking questions." Marilyn huffed. "Any kid should be able to ask questions. About their family or the world or anything. It's healthy."

"You lived with them?" Severus had to clarify and Harry nodded. "How are you not...like them?"

"Luck." Harry suggested and Amalthea and Draco snorted.

**Don't ask questions - that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.**

**Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon.**

**"Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting.**

"If it is anything like James' hair, it won't work." Remus' eyes had returned to their amber colour, and his lips twitched in humour.

"Oh, so it's genetic?" Draco realised. "He doesn't do it to just annoy everyone."

"Even if he did, it works." Amalthea sighed and James snorted as Harry tried to flatten his hair.

**About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way - all over the place.**

"Like a bird's nest." Amalthea said mournfully and Marilyn laughed. James glowered at her as the three other Marauders burst out laughing. There was definitely a story there.

**Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head. **

"Attractive." Xandra dead panned. "Whoever lands him is so lucky."

"You're stuck with Reg, though." Severus sighed. "What a shame."

"Such a shame." Xandra burst out squealing when Regulus dug his fingers into her side. "I give! I give!"

**Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel - Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.**

Draco laughed. "Accurate."

**Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell.**

**"Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year."**

Marilyn stared. "Thirty-six? No one gets that many! He's complaining about it?!"

"Even I don't." Draco blinked. "And you said he got expensive stuff, too."

"Yep." Harry sighed. "That's Dudley for you."

**"Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mommy and Daddy."**

**"All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face. Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over.**

"And he can throw a proper, five year old tantrum." Barty whistled. "Man, he's gonna get a rude awakening when he faces the real world."

**Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly, "And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin? Two more presents. Is that alright?''**

"That, right there, is terrible parenting." James said. "Just terrible."

"How are you nice again?" Amalthea asked Harry, who shrugged.

**Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty ... thirty..."**

"Guess who's not a Ravenclaw." Marilyn muttered. Peter patted her knee consolingly.

**"Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.**

**"Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then."**

**Uncle Vernon chuckled. "Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair.**

"Someone give me something to brain myself against."

"Barty, you don't have the spare brain cells to lose." Regulus dead panned, eyes full of humour as the Hufflepuff whined and Severus winced. He had whined into his ear, after all.

**At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR. He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried.**

"I want to destroy them all." James muttered. "Painfully and slowly. They can afford all this and my son sleeps in a bloody cupboard!" Harry winced. They didn't know that his birthday went uncelebrated. Yet.

**"Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him." She jerked her head in Harry's direction.**

"He has a name. It's not too hard to say." Amalthea huffed. "Ha-ree. C'mon, it is two syllables!"

"They aren't here, 'Mal." Draco pointed out and the Black shot him a look of annoyance.

**Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Harry's heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned.**

"I can sympathise." Amalthea said solemnly. "Animals despise me." Draco cackled.

"Was that why with the hippogriffs -"

"No! Shut up!" Harry was laughing along with Draco while Amalthea flushed a brilliant red in colour. The others looked bemused at the display.

**"Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this. **

"Of course he did. I mean, look at him." Severus waved a hand in Harry's direction. The boy blinked innocently and confused. "He's so obviously planning to take over the world by breaking old ladies legs, one by one." Marilyn mock gasped.

"How horrible!" Peter snorted in amusement.

**Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty again.**

"You make an excellent point." Sirius admitted.

**"We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested.**

**"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy."**

"The feeling's mutual." Harry stated. Amalthea's eyes grew wide.

"Was she the balloon?"

"Yes, she was." Amalthea let out an honestly rather terrifying cackle, whereas everyone looked confused.

**The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn't there - or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug.**

"A slug? Really?" Peter shuddered. "Couldn't you have said anything else?"

"Hey, I didn't write this book!"

"Technically, they're your memories." Remus' lips twitched. "So you did write it. With your mind." Harry scowled.

**"What about what's-her-name, your friend - Yvonne?"**

**"On vacation in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia.**

**"You could just leave me here," Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer).**

"Yeah, but then you'd be having fun." Barty said. "And they strive to make sure you don't have fun."

**Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon.**

**"And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled.**

**"I won't blow up the house," said Harry, but they weren't listening.**

"With James' genes, I actually wouldn't be surprised if you did." Marilyn hummed. "First potions lesson, I swear he and Sirius concocted something that was radioactive."

**"I suppose we could take him to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly, "... and leave him in the car..."**

**"That car's new, he's not sitting in it alone..."**

"Also, your nephew is not a dog." Xandra said, voice sickly sweet. Regulus shuddered.

**Dudley began to cry loudly. In fact, he wasn't really crying - it had been years since he'd really cried - but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.**

"That's disgusting." Severus' nose wrinkled and Remus frowned.

**"Dinky Duddydums, don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.**

**"I... don't... want... him... t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "He always sp- spoils everything!" He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms.**

"Brat." Peter huffed, eyes narrowing into a glare that was uncharacteristic on his usually mild, yet cheery, face.

**Just then, the doorbell rang - "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically - and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them. Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.**

"They are both terrible." Marilyn sniffed. Peter seemed to take the 'rat' comment to heart and looked highly offended.

**Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursleys' car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life. His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside.**

**"I'm warning you," he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's, "I'm warning you now, boy - any funny business, anything at all - and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas."**

"I'm going to destroy him. Slowly." Xandra muttered. "With fire." Severus and Regulus inched away from her slowly.

"I now see how she is your mother." Draco hissed to Amalthea, who nodded, slightly wide eyed.

**"I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, "honestly..**

**But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did.**

"I don't know why." Amalthea sighed. "You are a terrible liar."

"I'm not that bad!" Harry protested.

"'It's my nickname'."

"Shutting up."

**The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen.**

**Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs, which she left "to hide that horrible scar." **

"That sucks, mate." Sirius sighed. "But not all of us can have as amazing hair as the Black family." As though to emphasise his point, Sirius flipped his hair over his shoulder.

"True that." Amalthea agreed. Her hair, she had to admit, was her favourite thing about herself. Call her vain, but it was easy to deal with. She couldn't imagine having Hermione's hair - the thought made her cringe internally.

**Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses. Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off. **

"The Potter hair is unbeatable!" James crowed in triumph.

**He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain that he couldn't explain how it had grown back so quickly.**

The mood soured slightly because that was not fair. If Harry hadn't purposefully grown it back, he shouldn't be punished for it - hell, he shouldn't be locked in the bloody cupboard under the stairs in the first place!

**Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old sweater of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls). **

"That is just a travesty." Regulus' nose wrinkled. "And I hate our dress robes."

"That is just humiliating." Marilyn agreed. "And she bought it for her son? I thought she liked him!"

**The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Harry. Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished.**

"Good for you." Remus gave a half smile. "Although, if you're relieved you didn't receive one, then I hate to know how bad they can be."

"Pretty bad." Harry admitted. "Though never too far...just locking me in the cupboard."

"Still too far." Draco muttered, folding his arms in annoyance. Harry sighed and allowed his head to rest on the blonde's shoulder in comfort, ignoring Amalthea's internal squee-fest.

**On the other hand, he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney. **

"You apparated?" Barty was wide eyed. "What?"

"Nah, I think I flew." Harry replied, smiling slightly.

**The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard) was jump behind the big trash cans outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid- jump.**

Everyone snorted at the excuse, aside from Harry, who pouted.

"That was a terrible excuse, Potter."

"Shut up, Malfoy."

**But today, nothing was going to go wrong. It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, his cupboard, or Mrs. Figg's cabbage-smelling living room.**

Xandra's nose wrinkled. "Ew."

**While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank, and Harry were just a few of his favorite subjects. This morning, it was motorcycles.**

Sirius pouted. "Motorcycles are cool."

"Whatever you say, Padfoot." Remus sighed.

**"... roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them.**

**I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying."**

"What was that for?" Harry gave Draco a hurt look, rubbing the back of his head.

"For being an idiot."

**Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a mustache: "MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!"**

"Uh, actually, mine will."

"Shut up, Sirius."

**Dudley and Piers sniggered.**

**I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream."**

"Actually, it was a memory." Once again, Severus questioned why, exactly, he was friends with Barty.

**But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon - they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.**

"You get dangerous ideas without the aid of cartoons." Amalthea sighed.

"I do not!" Harry protested and she shot him a critical look.

"Aragog. Forbidden corridor. Grawp. Any more? The forbidden DA club. Time turner." Harry winced.

"...Ok, maybe I do."

**It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop. **

"Gits." Sirius huffed.

"I prefer ice pops. Less messy." Regulus shrugged. Sirius stared.

"You what?"

"You heard me."

"And these two are twins." Xandra muttered with an eyeroll. Peter and Marilyn snorted in unison.

**It wasn't bad, either, **

"Harry likes it!"

"Only because it was the one he had!"

"Will you both shut up!"

"Yes, Marilyn."

**Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond.**

"The poor gorilla." Remus sighed. "Being compared to that thing."

**Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favorite hobby of hitting him. **

Draco's hands clenched into fists. Harry unclenched them, running his thumb across the blonde's knuckles. "It was years ago, Dray."

"I don't care." Draco growled. "And it's Draco." He added, almost as an after thought.

**They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first.**

"That greedy son of a bitch." Severus hissed. His friends blinked, because the words just sounded, well, odd, coming from him.

**Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to last.**

"As is Harry's luck." Amalthea sighed.

**After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. **

"I like snakes." Amalthea hummed, then laughed at the expression on Sirius' face. "They're wicked cool. Also, some snakes from Slytherin are nice - Daphne Greengrass, for one."

"Daphne...you were paired with her in potions?" Draco questioned and Amalthea hummed in agreement.

"I'm so glad you don't share Sirius' views." Regulus sighed. "Because, really, that would be bad." Amalthea just winked at her father.

**Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash can - but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.**

**Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils.**

**"Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.**

"Leave the poor snake alone." Marilyn frowned.

**"Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.**

**"This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away.**

**Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself - no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at least he got to visit the rest of the house.**

"Harry, please, do not compare your living situation to that of a snake." James scolded. "That's unhealthy."

"Yes, dad." Harry drawled, complete with an eyeroll.

**The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's.**

**It winked.**

"...Snakes can't wink, right?" Peter turned to Marilyn, who nodded.

"No eyelids."

**Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too.**

"Please don't communicate with the snake." Xandra sighed.

**The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly:**

**"I get that all the time.**

**"I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying."**

**The snake nodded vigorously.**

"Are you talking to the snake?" Sirius' eyebrows rose in disbelief.

"Uh...maybe?"

"At least it's not the BASILISK!"

"I didn't know, ok?" Harry whined to Amalthea. "It was not my fault?"

"Basilisk? What basilisk?" Severus was ignored.

**"Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked.**

**The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it.**

**Boa Constrictor, Brazil.**

**"Was it nice there?"**

**The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. "Oh, I see - so you've never been to Brazil?"**

**As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump.**

**"DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"**

"Oh my God, leave him alone!" Regulus groaned, flopping against Xandra dramatically.

"There's the family resemblance." Severus observed. "You know, except the identical thing."

**Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could.**

**"Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs. Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor. What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened - one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror.**

**Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished. **

"The vanishing glass!" Peter observed with delight. Marilyn couldn't help but ruffle his hair fondly. The light in the smallest Marauder's eyes didn't dim. In fact, it just got brighter.

**The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.**

**As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come... Thanksss, amigo."**

"Polite snake, too." Amalthea observed, nodding sagely. "Rare, they are." Draco aimed a swat at her head, which hit. She scowled at him.

**The keeper of the reptile house was in shock.**

**"But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?"**

**The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death. But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?"**

"And you're in trouble." Barty announced. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Obviously."

**Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, "Go - cupboard - stay - no meals," before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.**

"We should sic Marilyn on him." James announced. "She knows good hexes and jinxes."

"I'm not a dog." Marilyn deadpanned. "I can make you one, though. Or a peacock."

"Shutting up."

**Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch. He didn't know what time it was and he couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food.**

Draco, Remus and Sirius growled in unison.

**He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash. He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died. Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead. **

"You can remember that?" Regulus' eyes were wide.

"Yeah." Harry replied. "But I remember more, now."

**This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from. He couldn't remember his parents at all, though sometimes he remembered certain people - a man with black hair, **

"Is that...me?" Sirius blinked.

**another with amber eyes,**

"That's Remus." Peter nodded towards said werewolf, who was shocked, yet touched.

**a woman with auburn hair. **

"Xandra." Regulus, Severus and Barty chorused.

**His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house.**

**When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened; the Dursleys were his only family.**

"Why didn't we take you away?" Sirius asked. "We should have."

"It's...complicated. And explained in my third year."

**Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were, too. A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at him once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word. **

"There goes the Statute of Secrecy." Draco sighed. "Honestly."

**The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look.**

**At school, Harry had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.**

"Just so you know, Harry, we disagree with them." Sirius announced passionately.

"I know." Harry said dryly.

XoOoX

'Nother chapter!

I might include Narcissa and Lucius, because I adore Malfoys. Any characters I should include? Tell me what you think!

Read, review and all that jazz! ~ Jazz xx


End file.
